buddhism in the west uyghur kingdom and beyond 215
gold next to the colours red and blue is remarkable here, too. And the layout
of text and illustration is similar to the Uyghur examples. Another illustration
that belongs to the Sogdian Araṇemi-Jātaka (III 4948; fig. 6.6)105 shows great
similarities as regards the depiction of the ascetic’s robe made of tiger’s skin, if
we compare it with the Uyghur example on III 6324 (fig. 6.7). Both Brahmins
are clutching a staff. In my opinion art historians should explore the subject in
greater detail. The illustrations of the Sogdian Araṇemi-Jātaka are particularly
important for the subject of the formation of early Uyghur Buddhist art. They
display a close affinity to Manichaean aesthetics as regards the use of gold and
the selection of colours.
2.3.3 The Early Uyghur Buddhist Texts
But let us return to the period when Uyghur Buddhism started to play a signifi-
cant role. A view to which I cannot subscribe is that the early Uyghur Buddhist
texts were translated only by Tocharians (in case of the texts translated from
Tocharian) or Chinese (in case of the texts translated from Chinese) respec-
tively. The Japanese scholar Moriyasu advanced this hypothesis.106 He takes
it for granted that there were virtually no Uyghur Buddhists when the transla-
tions were made. Further, Moriyasu can conceive of Buddhist missionary activ-
ity only as a top-down movement fueled by royal patronage—which was in fact
largely true for Manichaeism—but why should there not have been converts
among the Uyghur population before the official shift in religious politics at
the beginning of the 11th century? The demise of Manichaeism began already
at the end of the 10th century.107 The ruler’s decision to support Buddhism
could have been partly due to the observation that it had spread considerably
among the Uyghur population, a process which must have begun in the early
105 The illustrations to the Sogdian Araṇemi-Jātaka are dealt with in Ebert, Jorinde, “Sogdische
Bildfragmente der Araṇemi-Legende aus Qočo,” in De Dunhuang à Istanbul: Hommage à
James Russell Hamilton, ed. Louis Bazin and Peter Zieme (Turnhout: Brepols, 2001), 25–41
(planches I–XIX). III 4948 is reproduced on planche II, a tracing on planche XVIII.
106 So Moriyasu, “Chronology,” 216. The argument is to a large extent based on chronological
considerations and lacks linguistic backup. Why the Daśakarmapathāvadānamālā, for
instance, should have been made known by the Tocharians to non-Buddhist people
because it was easy to understand (so stated in Moriyasu, “Chronology,” 216) escapes my
grasp. The texts styles itself as a kāvya work and the introduction to the version from
Hami is possibly the most sophisticated Old Uyghur text as regards knowledge of Indian
mythology. These facts show that the text was intended for highly trained Buddhist
specialists.
107 The same is true for the Ganzhou Uyghurs where Buddhism became the official religion
of the state by the end of the 10th century. See Pinks, Uiguren von Kan-chou, 113–114.